The number of user communicating over public networks, such as the Internet, has increased significantly over the last several years. As a result, companies are providing more products and services over the Internet. Customers may access these products/services using a personal computer (PC). The customer's PC may include anti-virus software that protects the PC from malicious viruses.
One problem with using conventional commercial off the shelf anti-virus software is that such software is often unable to detect sophisticated attacks and/or prevent unauthorized users from accessing personal data stored on the customer's PC. In addition, the use of non-PC based devices, such as network appliances, televisions, etc., to access products/services via the Internet has become increasingly common. Typically, these non-PC based devices include no security mechanisms to combat viruses or other malicious attacks. Therefore, the customer is often left unprotected when accessing products/services over the Internet.